SANTA BARBARA YOUTH OPERA:

About SBYO:

Santa Barbara Youth Opera provides young singers with tuition-free instruction and performance opportunities in a fun, rewarding and artistically challenging environment. Young singers will also enjoy unparalleled exposure to the workings of a professional opera company. For additional information on the Santa Barbara Youth Opera, email [email protected] or call 805-898-3890.

Youth Opera Odyssey Info:

Odyssey brings Homer’s epic tale to life for young performers. The youth opera will be presented under Music Director Erin McKibben and Stage Director Layna Chianakas.

The Youth Opera summer program will provide young singers ages 8-18 unparalleled exposure to the workings of a professional opera company. The singers will spend two weeks learning Odyssey and perform it onstage at the end of camp, the weekend of June 21-23.

Supported in part by:

The Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts, a field of interest fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation

Santa Barbara Bowl – a first-time grant for SB Youth Opera

Eve Bernstein

Erin McKibben SBYO Music Director

ERIN MCKIBBEN is an active performer and educator in Southern California, originally from Portland, Oregon. Locally, she is the Music Director for the Santa Barbara Revels and a Co-director for the Music Academy of the West’s Sing! Choral Program. She is a Teaching Artist in Choral Music and Flute for the Santa Barbara Symphony, performs as a principal with the Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra, and is owner and Director of the Santa Barbara School of Music. Erin is principal flutist for the Los Angeles-based experimental classical ensemble, wild Up, whose performances LA Times music critic Mark Swed has described as “impressive both technically and for their unabashed spirit.” The group’s New York City debut was listed in the New York Times’ “Best Classical Music of 2015.” She has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West, Colburn’s Zipper Hall, Warner Brothers Studios, several National Flute Association Conventions, as a soloist at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, and with the LA Philharmonic, the experimental LA-based Opera company, the Industry, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

As a chamber musician, Erin participated in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and has been heard on Santa Barbara’s classical music radio station as a featured artist. Erin was also engaged as the Keynote Speaker for the 2015 Pacific Northwest Chapter Conference of the College Music Society. She holds a BM from the University of Puget Sound and a Masters Degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Amy Porter as a fellow.